VM "tech support"...uhuh [Archive]

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Biggus

31-03-2010, 05:58

Last Thursday night I started getting some latency issues while playing WoW, at first I put it down to WoW being retarded again as it had been a bit of late. Friday night, it was far worse, 5-6second lag, and nobody else was getting it, so then I thought it must be my connection, and it was.

Reboot PC, router & modem, still no joy, do a few speed tests etc. only to see my 10Mb running @ 0.72Mbps DL & 0.28Mbps UL :(

Saturday afternoon I spend almost 6hrs trying to resolve the issue after being told numerous times by various Indian & UK techs that it must be something wrong with my equipment, as everything including the modem was "fine".

I tried 3 different routers 2x Linksys & 1x VM (Netgear), to no avail, on either my PC or Laptop, I even connected PC & Laptop directly to the modem, still slow speeds. I then tried new ethernet cables, and still no go.

I even had one idiot Indian "tech" trying to tell me my still powered, but not connected to any PC/Laptop, was still interfering with the modem :dunce:

Now having tried everything different my end except the modem (which I had already checked its logs and they showed lots of errors & no timestamps), VM were still insisting it was fine, but fortunately I had my old NTL modem and got them to put that on in place of the VM modem, and tada, it worked.

So a big HAH!! to VM "tech support", you obviously don't know *****.

Several hundred miles or several thousand miles away, if you're not able to physically check out a customer's hardware in their house, including your modems, then don't presume the customer is wrong, just because your scripts and long-distance checks say there's nothing wrong, because in all probability, you're wrong too.

I'm posting this not only to show that just because VM says it's working, but obviously not, to not always take their word for it. What really got my goat was the 1st Indian "tech" insisting that I do as he say, and then cutting me off :mad: :td:

marky

31-03-2010, 06:11

Join the club, It cost me £8 on a payg mobile to get all the hop on one leg, reeboot your grandmother and plug your wife back in,, I stopped when they started on about my pc,,,, which one? does a ps3 an xbox 2 laptops and a desktop ALL get the same problem at the same time?
Then she started about the non VM router....................
Derrrrrrrrrrr, ALL the street is having the same problem..... do they use your router....:dozey:

Good luck

Chrysalis

31-03-2010, 08:33

Peter_

31-03-2010, 10:14

I wonder are they trained to do this? the agressiveness in insisting end user equipment is to blame is not productive but does act as a delaying tactic to get people to stop thinking its VM's fault.

No we are not trained to blame the end users equipment as we have diagnostic tools and our own experience to find the fault.

If it does turn out to be your equipment and we recognise the problem then if possible we try to point you towards a solution.

As for any agent not doing his/her job correctly what you should do is call back and insist on a complaint being made against that agent, if you do not do this then another person will get the same treatment.

Chrysalis

31-03-2010, 10:15

I guess to be fair when I rang just now I wasnt given the runaround, the india tech on my 1st call asked me to check lights on the modem and then I accidently cut him off but he didnt ask me to check pc.

the 2nd call the scottish guy was very on the ball, told him suspected high power level and modem disconnects/reboots. He asked me to read him the values and then he booked the tech.

Welshchris

31-03-2010, 12:37

No we are not trained to blame the end users equipment as we have diagnostic tools and our own experience to find the fault.

If it does turn out to be your equipment and we recognise the problem then if possible we try to point you towards a solution.

As for any agent not doing his/her job correctly what you should do is call back and insist on a complaint being made against that agent, if you do not do this then another person will get the same treatment.

I completely disagree here, im not saying all VM staff do it but there are a few that do blame end users systems or equipment.

I know of a woman here who was told her connection being slow was down to her pc being old and she went out and paid almost £600 on a new system only to discover the same problem and it was down to oversubscription which they had known about for weeks before she had complained and only came out when she wrote a letter of complaint and she was told she should have been told of the fact.

Her old system was an Athlon 2100, 1GB Ram, 60GB Hard Disk and totally capable of running a 10mb connection.

Peter_

31-03-2010, 13:50

I completely disagree here, im not saying all VM staff do it but there are a few that do blame end users systems or equipment.

I know of a woman here who was told her connection being slow was down to her pc being old and she went out and paid almost £600 on a new system only to discover the same problem and it was down to oversubscription which they had known about for weeks before she had complained and only came out when she wrote a letter of complaint and she was told she should have been told of the fact.

Her old system was an Athlon 2100, 1GB Ram, 60GB Hard Disk and totally capable of running a 10mb connection.
Please re read my post Chris as the is nothing to disagree with, especially the 3rd paragraph.

You cannot disagree then say not all staff do it.

FlimsyBob

31-03-2010, 13:53

Up until it died not long ago i was running on an older slower system than the one you've listed above, and i'd never have swallowed such rubbish from the VM staff.

She should of got a second opinion, tech support isn't there to advise on when you need to upgrade your PC, they're there to support and help diagnose broadband issues, not advise you on PC specs.

I've worked in tech support for a UK ISP (no names sorry), and i was always surprised at what customers would ask or how they would take something you say and act on it without doubt. I'll give you one example...

Lady rings, she's having problems getting connected on dialup (yes long story, we provided dialup to those not able to get ADSL)..
Computer is not dialing, won't connect etc etc...
Several setting changes and reboots later as far as i can tell the modem in the computer is old and does not have any drivers installed... (i looked on the net for her and couldn't find anything for that particular modem - she's lost all her original disks)..

-- part of the conversation went something like this ---

Me: "You have an old modem, and you're missing the drivers, i can't help you get it running whilst the modem is missing the software it requires to function".

Customer: " If i buy a new PC will this fix it? "..

Me: "It's not your computer that is the problem Mrs *name here*, but moreover it's that the modem does not have any software installed that is required for the modem to function"..

Customer: "That wasn't my question, if i buy a new PC will it fix it"..

Me: "Technically no it won't fix it, because like i said the PC is not the problem, but if you're happy to spend money on new parts at the very least i would advise you to simply replace the modem since it will work out a whole lot cheaper, and we're yet to determine if dialup works to a sufficient standard at your property, and secondly i cannot guarantee a new modem will make everything work, that's simply my assessment"..

Customer: "OK thanks very much, i'll have a look when i'm in town tomorrow"...

Can you guess what this customer went and done next? ... I'll give a hint, she didn't buy a new dialup modem.

LauraAlexandra

31-03-2010, 18:49

Hi guys,
"Tech support" is soooo frustrating. When I was with ntl/virgin before they didn't support Applemac - so wouldn't tell me how to get wireless connection. So I left them. This time they don't support Outlook. I am confused I thought that Outlook was a universally used programme, how can Tech Support choose what they support? All I want to do is get my virginmail through Outlook! They advised me to phone a 0906 PC Support number. So don't know what to do now.

Peter_

31-03-2010, 18:50